A Different Gift Series
by Miz Thang
Summary: A series following an alternate, darker ending to the Gift. Dawn, Anya, Spike, Willow, Tara, Giles, Xander, Buffy and Cordelia. Nine povs. One outcome.
1. Daisies

**Author's Note: So, at first, it was just a nice ficlet about Dawn dying instead of Buffy. All done and everything. And then I got an idea…and there you have a full blown series. All ficlets can be read as stand alones. Big thanks to Arlene (Angel Moon Princess) for a-helping me come up with titles and b-reading all of them and telling me it was really sad (of course, that's what I wanted to hear). Anyway…**

**Daisies: Dawn**

She likes daisies. There's no real reason behind it. They're just nice and yellow, and so, she likes them.

Spike told her Drusilla tried to plant some once. Not that she wants to think about Drusilla, but just because she told him she likes daisies.

Are the daisies real? Did she even really plant them in the backyard? She thought she had, but then again...she isn't real, is she? She's the key. Something given memories that didn't really happen.

According to Buffy, she's real. Because they have the same blood. Well, she still remembers what her sister said, and she knows, without any doubt, Buffy would jump in her place. Same blood, remember?

Spike reaches the top of the tower and faces that crazy old man, Doc, off. Meanwhile, she works at loosening the ropes and pulls a wrist free. She works harder on the other as the guy shoves Spike onto the tower floor.

"Please don't..." She pleads and she wishes the knights had killed her because then she wouldn't have to worry about being the reason the world ends.

He raises his knife to cut her and she's surprised as Spike growls and tackles Doc off the tower. She then screams in horror as they plunge down, yanking her wrist out of the loose rope.

"No!"

She quickly loosens her feet and runs toward the stairs, horrified by what Spike had just done for her.

She's counting the blobs a hundred feet below and sees her sister fighting Glory. And she's moving towards the stairs when a sharp pain shoots from her foot and up her leg. She doesn't understand how it happened, but it did. Then she sees it. The knife. The one Doc was holding. The one that flew out his hand and landed with a clang on the tower.

Everything seems to slow for her as she watches the blood before it stills in the air. The air around it crackles and the portal appears, blue and purple energy swirling fifty feet above ground as electricity crackles around it.

She doesn't even stop to think about it. She doesn't question if this is right. If it should be this way. How everyone will take what she's about to do. What she's supposed to do; what she was made for. And she runs...and leaps.

Her hair flies up and the dress clings to her front as she plunges down into the portal. Electricity shoots through her body and she** feels** like she's dying and going somewhere better.

She's losing consciousness and the last of the portal's energy runs through her. Her body seems to still for a moment before dropping through the sky, landing on a pile of rubble.

But she's already gone then. Watching as things fall apart. Watching as Buffy continues to beat Glory, even if she isn't Glory anymore and she's Ben. Watching as Doc slams Spike into the tower, embedding a piece of wood in his chest and he falls away to dust. Watching as Willow won't wake up and Anya isn't breathing. Watching.

The sun rises. Yellow. Very yellow. Like daisies. And maybe that's why she likes daisies. They remind her of the sun. The light. Herself. Dawn.

She kind of hopes they plant some on her grave.


	2. Bunnies

**A/N: So, you read Dawn and figured let's give the next person a shot? Well…onward, then to…**

**Bunnies: Anya**

Bunnies are the sign of evil. Everyone underestimates them. All because they're so cute and furry and hoppy. The sign of evil. Bunnies. **They** are the things demons fear. With their floppy ears and their wet noses. And, for God's sake, they eat carrots! She should've known when she saw the stuffed animal hours ago…

She should have known she'd die. She saw another bunny as they rode that monster of a vehicle out of Sunnydale. She'd been looking out the window, innocently of course. Needless to say, it had scared the crap out of her.

Dawn told her once that bunnies were their friends. Then she told Dawn to stuff it. That was a year ago…did it really happen? She doesn't think it did. Not really.

She's fighting the itty bitty minions of Glory, watching with hopeful eyes as Spike races up the stairs to save Dawn.

"Oh, thank God," she murmurs, hitting one on the head with a big bat that she'd been given. Well, not a bat; just a big piece of wood.

She has a few splinters, but she'll cry about them later. Right now, she's more concerned about keep her own self alive.

All around her, the other Scoobies are fighting for their lives, fighting for good. Fighting to save the world. And she wonders…that the hell is **she** fighting for? All she has is Xander.

"Xander!" she yells to the man she'll soon marry. "How many times do I have to hit it before it dies?"

He glances at her. "Ahn…think of…" he pauses, "think of bunnies. Nice, cute-"

She frowns in displeasure. "Floppy, hoppy **bunnies**." She raises her plank of wood and swings again, watching the minion stumble and fall. It doesn't get up. She grins. "That was highly therapeutic."

She's fighting for Xander…and for keeping any bunnies at bay. She's a hack-and-slash type and doesn't disappoint as she finds an ax and makes good use of it. She slices a demon's head off.

"Oh, look! I killed another one!" Xander and Giles are surprised at her excitement. "What? Ex-demon." She says, for all its simplicity. Next, Xander will quip that she spends too much time with Spike, even if he knows she doesn't.

A pain shoots through her abdomen and she looks down, only to see a sword sticking through her gut. The minion twists and then pulls out and she cries in pain. This was highly predictable, and all the bunnies' fault.

"Anya!" Xander yells as he notices her injury. Only she's already falling and he catches her, watching helplessly as she's slipping away.

For a fleeting second, as her soul leaves her body and her heart stops, she hopes that if she's going to hell, that there'll at least be a scarcity of bunnies.


	3. Crooked Thorns

**Author's Note: So, you've read Dawn's p.o.v, and you just finished Anya's. How about we read Spike's?**

**Crooked Thorns: Spike**

They always remind him of a crooked thorns, stakes did. He knows it's not the best comparison he could use, but he's being awfully poetic. The key word there would have to be the "awfully" part.

He can spy that demon, Doc, climbing the tower, and he has no doubt that his attention is to cut Dawn and open the portal.

He throws the last minion away and sprints up the tower, his destination Dawn, because he promised, because he told Buffy he'd protect her. And he plans on it.

He reaches Doc and isn't in the mood for small talk, sending a hard punch to the demon's face, watching as he barely moves an inch.

_Bloody hell_, he thinks for a moment, moving on the defensive and ducking Doc's attacks.

He's shoved onto the floor and attempts to blink away the light spots that form in his sight. He's a strong demon, even if he looks like an old man, Doc. But that isn't going to make Spike give up. Now, he might even work harder.

"Please don't…" He can hear Dawn plead as Doc moves her way; raises the knife to cut her.

He'll be damned if she's used to end the world. He pushes himself to his feet, growling, and uses all his adrenaline to side tackle the demon. All his force serves to do as he intended, sending them both flying over the edge of the platform, the knife flipping in the air and landing with a clang as they fall through the sky.

"No!" Dawn's scream echoes behind them as they crash to the ground.

Doc immediately bucks him off. "You ruined everything, vampire. Why do you even care? I can't smell a soul anywhere on you." Doc says, brushing his clothes off, standing.

"Yeah, well, I don't think it actually matters. Do you?" he stumbles to his feet also, looking worse for wear.

There's a sizzling type of noise and they both look up as the portal opens. A light blue and purple fills the sky and white energy crackles around it.

"Dawn."

"Looks like she made a boo boo." Doc says with a smirk.

He immediately desires to wipe it off. He punches Doc. They're fighting, slamming each other into rubble. Just when he thinks he's won, he's watching as Dawn flies over the tower and plunges, shock and horror perfectly blending on his face. He's hit from behind.

_I failed._

Everything seems to be in slow motion as Doc slams him into a pillar. Buffy's pausing as she beats up Glory to look him in the eyes. _Spike-_

Doc's makeshift stake is heading straight towards his heart.

_I love you_, he hopes his eyes say. _I'm so sorry I failed-_

Seconds later, he disintegrates. He was right a bit. Stakes do look like crooked thorns. Especially up close and personal.


	4. Last Words of a Former High School Loser

**Author's Note: Fourth installment. Dawn, Anya, Spike, and now Willow.**

**Last Words of a Former High School Loser: Willow**

The world is going to hell. She's pretty sure of that. And it's also a very big understatement. Hell in a hand basket. Not that she's trying to be pessimistic, but it's the truth. She's going to die. Like Anya had, like Dawn had, like Spike had…

Tara's helping her to her feet and they stumble over the rubble. Only, to their extremely bad luck, Doc is standing there, grinning widely.

"I may not have my Armageddon," he starts, "but I **will** have fun."

"_Repello_," she shouts almost immediately and she and Tara hurry away as Doc flies feet away into the tower where he'd staked Spike moments ago.

They hide behind a pile of rubble, breathing hard and hoping for help of some kind. She catches sight of Dawn's body lying on a pile of rubble, broken, lifeless.

"Boo," the calm voice says.

They spin around in fright as Doc appears behind them. "You didn't miss me, did you?"

"Tara, run." She says determinedly. "Just…go. I need you safe."

"I'm not leaving you," Tara replies.

"Ah, young love…it's so tragic." Doc moves faster than she's ever seen Buffy or Spike and he's choking her.

She blinks as Tara backs away, trying to get air into her lungs, trying to breathe in air. _Tara, please, baby, run._

Tara's eyes lock on hers as Doc's grip on her throat tightens. No one's going to save them, they both realize. No one's going to come to their rescue.

_I love you, Willow_, Tara thinks, still backing away slowly, her mind slowly cracking.

_Love you too_. She looks her killer in the eyes as Tara stumbles farther away.

"Last words?" Doc asks with a grin.

"Fuck. You." Willow mutters. His grip tightens impossibly and she shuts her eyes. She draws on all her remaining strength and opens her eyes to yell, "_Censum_!"

He whooshes up in flames and she falls out of his grip. Her back hits the debris, her head cracking on impact. Her hair feels wet and everything's so dark.

She said she was going to die, didn't she? She should've bet someone, maybe Spike, if he wasn't already dead. Well, he would have appreciated the gambling…

Her last thought is that she should be proud of herself. "Fuck you" and an incantation were the last words of this former high school loser.


	5. For A Fool

**Author's Note: ** Dawn, Anya, Spike, Willow, and now, Tara.

**For A Fool: Tara**

She's insane. No, not Glory-induced insane. She's only picturing Willow's death in her mind again and again. She's running for her life, running past Anya's bloody form and Spike's ashes. Past Willow, who she wouldn't think of. Until she finds Dawn's broken body. She's run past everything that's real. She's only running in her mind.

In reality, she's crouched by Dawn's body, on her knees, touching her face softly. "The energy's gone…" she whispers as Giles kneels down beside her.

"Tara?" he asks in concern.

"She cured me…the willow tree. Everything was back…and then she was gone and it went away again."

"Willow? Willow's dead?" He questions, and at the sight of tears welling in her eyes, nods.

She lets Giles pull her away from Dawn and her fingers drift lightly across her cold cheek before he guides her to the only way out, avoiding all possible obstacles.

"Ashes to ashes…to ashes…to ashes…" she chants in a whisper, "…to dust…to dust…to dust…to dust…"

As they leave the construction site, he mind can't function past that nice Mr. Giles was helping her. She has no thoughts of Buffy or Xander.

Something flies overhead and catches her attention. She whimpers at the sight. A dragon. It's a dragon. She watches in awe as it roars down at them.

"Fire…" she murmurs softly, watching as Giles hold up his sword. "Kill…kill…kill…kill…kill…kill…"

"Tara, if you can understand what I am saying, run…and get help." She stares at him. "Help." He repeats himself, almost desperate.

"Help." She echoes and then nods. She backs away slowly, "help…"

The dragon swoops down on Giles as he raises a sword to defend himself. She turns her back and runs away. She runs down the deserted street at dawn, looking for help. Nice Mr. Giles told her to get help. And because he's smart and he told her to get it, she has to get it.

She collides into a solid body and falls back on the ground. Looking up, she sees a tall girl with short brunette, blonde-streaked, hair. Her face is a mask of concern as she senses something off.

"Help." She says, desperate to make Mr. Giles proud. "Need…help."

"That's what I'm here for, Tara."

The nice new woman helps her to her feet. Tara allows the woman to lead her farther away from Giles, towards a hospital. The new woman will take care of her, help her. She can feel it. She'll make everything okay for Tara. As far as she can comprehend, the life she'd dreamed of while sane is for a fool, anyway.


	6. Unwatchful Eyes

**Author's Note:** Read and review. Let me know what you think. Coming up next? Xander.

**Unwatchful Eyes: Giles**

He hadn't seen it, when Spike raced up the tower to Dawn's rescue. He hadn't seen it because he'd been caught up in saving his own neck and keeping the minions at bay. So, he hadn't seen when Spike had taken Doc over the edge of the tower with him, or was staked for his efforts.

He hadn't seen when Anya had been skewered. Ironic, really. He and Xander had been not five feet away, trudging unknowingly on Spike's dust when her cry rang out in the night air. But he hadn't turned around. He hadn't even seen Anya take her last breath.

He hadn't seen Dawn jump. For all that's holy, he hadn't even seen it when the portal opened, as large as it was, white and blue energy sparking. He didn't see as Dawn ran and leaped, falling to the rubble. He hadn't seen her take the jump that would end her life, see her fulfill her supposed destiny. He had seen her body, though.

He hadn't seen Willow die. He hadn't seen her and Tara struggle, or the sacrifice Willow made. All he knew was what the insane Tara told him. That there was fire.

Tara's leaning over Dawn's dead body when he finds her. He guides her away. Away from the death, the destruction, and the death. He has no clue where Xander and Buffy are, but he prays for their souls, needing to take care of Tara.

They hurry through the streets in the early morning light of Sunnydale; he wants to get her to his flat. Only, they'll never arrive there.

She's staring upwards and her follows her line of vision, noticing a dragon. A dragon managed to escape Glory's dimension and is now on its way to wreck Sunnydale.

He pulls out a sword, hearing Tara insanely chant, "Kill."

"Tara," he turns to face her, looking into empty eyes. "If you can understand what I'm saying…run…and get help." He pauses as she stares at him. His voice gains a desperate hint. "Help."

"Help," she repeats him and he nods as she slowly backs away. "Help." She whispers as he turns to face the incoming dragon.

It swoops down on him and he raises his sword. He has no delusions that he will survive this. His concerns are the people of this town and keeping them innocent.

The fight is short-lived; he thrusts the sword into the dragon's heart as its claws sink into his stomach. Pain shoots through his body as the demon keels over and he falls to his knees, Tara disappearing around a corner far away.

He feels like it's his entire fault, though. Nothing will give him his peace. Everyone that died, it was his fault. The fault of his unwatchful eyes.

For being a highly reputed and successful watcher, Rupert Giles feels much like a failure when his heart stops.


	7. Hand Holding

**Author's Note: **Next up? Buffy. Yay!

**Hand Holding: Xander**

He's done. After he calls nine-one-one and reports Dawn, Anya, Willow and Buffy dead, he stumbles out of the gates of the construction site and sits on the cement sidewalk, waiting. Mainly because there's nothing else to do but wait.

He's still sitting there when the paramedics come. He tells them a very much abridged version of the truth and the police write down every word. He then allows them to lead him to an ambulance and sits there, wondering about Tara and Giles as he's checked for injuries. Where they were. If they were okay. Alive.

He drops out of the moving ambulance as the sight of a dragon. He sees it through the back window and instantly had a bad feeling. How he managed to get out, he doesn't remember, but he does. He rolls to a stop and painfully climbs to his feet, limping; jumping out of a moving vehicle hadn't been such a good idea.

As he moves closer, he finds half of an answer to his mental question. Giles is unmistakably dead. At this new information, he's only having one thought. And it's of Tara. Giles died to protect Tara, so he concludes that he needs to find her. She's all he has now, and he's not one for living alone. He can't do it. So he has to find Tara. He **wants** to find her.

He's led back to the ambulance and he goes willingly, climbing in and sitting numbly during the ride to the hospital. Not of the paramedics say a thing to him. They only call in another ambulance to collect Giles; for that he's grateful. He doesn't know if he'd be able to sit and deal. Not if they were trying to get him to talk. He has a one-track mind. All he wants is to find Tara.

He's following the body bags, a mini-parade of death, and he's passing a set of doors, when a voice drifts out to him, waking his senses.

"I don't care! I want her checked out! Get her a…a psychiatrist, a psychologist, something! Help her!"

His pace quickens as he attempts to find the owner of that voice that he knows so well. He bursts through the doors, freezing at the site of her. It's Cordelia, holding a weeping Tara to her, facing off against a nurse who could care less about finding help, and more about a filled-out form. Only Cordelia obviously knows none of Tara's information. Her hair is cut short, shorter than he's ever seen it, and blonde streaks run through it. Her form is tense.

"Cordy?" He calls out, a bit uncertain. He hasn't seen her in two years, and he's appropriately nervous about this unscheduled reunion.

She cranes her head to see him and gently lets go of Tara. She surprises him in the next moment, bounding over to him and wrapping him in a warm, friendly hug. Los Angeles has changed her, is his first thought.

"Xander! God, it's good to see a familiar face!" She then seems to notice the gash on his forehead and the obvious pain he's in from her hug. "Wow, you look like shit. That the hell's going on?"

He looks at her, sadly, as she takes a single step back. "Everyone's gone. In the 'dead and not actually coming back' kinda way. Buffy, Will, Giles, Dawn, Ahn…**Spike**. What's left is what you see here; me and Tara."

"Spike?" She asks. "Um. Wow."

"In a nutshell." Xander replies. He looks around for a moment before turning back to her. "I'm…I'm supposed to go identify them now."

Cordelia studies him for a moment and then grabs his hand. "I'll go with you."

He notices a tear in her eye and gives her a grateful smile and is glad for the progress. He stands still, waiting as Cordelia takes a deep breath and retries getting the nurse to get Tara a doctor. She's more successful.

When Dr. Schneider arrives and begins to gently guide Tara farther into the psychiatric ward, Cordelia retakes Xander's hand and they both make their way down to the morgue, side by side.

_And then there were two_, he thinks sadly.

The only upside is that Cordelia is still holding his hand.


	8. The Lone Summers

**Author's Note:** Read and review. Let me know what you think. Coming up next? Cordelia. And the end. In this chapter, we find out what actually changed everything. Something Buffy did. Huh.

**The Lone Summers: Buffy**

She feels bad about it as she boards the bus, really she does. She hadn't actually planned on attacking before Glory realized that it was the Bot. But she had. She'd kicked the god and immediately moved in with Olaf's hammer. Fit for a god, right?

She's watching Spike race up the tower and grins a bit, calming herself. He'll protect Dawn, she knows it. Because he said he would. She resumes beating the crap out of Glory.

Her hammer comes down again as Spike and Doc fly over the edge of the tower, her sister safe from being stabbed and used to end the world.

And again as her world slows and the portal still manages to open. Another quickly follows as her baby sister flies over the edge of the tower and lands on the rubble not six feet away.

Glory's Ben, but the hammer still comes down, and she sees Spike shoved into the tower. It doesn't even occur to her to say anything, to stop what's coming. But their eyes do meet as the stake slams into his chest.

_Spike-_

She can read his eyes. _I love you_, they say. _I'm so sorry I failed-_

She decides to believe that he did. That he loved her. But she doesn't think he failed, and she wishes she could tell him that, give him that peace.

Her peripheral vision catches Anya being run through and her heart breaks for Xander as Anya collapses into his arms and dies.

She continues to move, even as Willow's head hits the concrete and she slowly bleeds to death, all for the sake of Tara, who now kneels by Dawn, insane, like a fascinated child.

The blows continue to rain down on a battered and half-dead Ben as Giles helps Tara to her feet and practically drags the young, vulnerable woman out of the site. To safety. Help.

Ben takes his last breath and she steps back in horror as what she did sets in. Killed. She killed someone. She killed Ben. _Oh, God._

The urge to vomit comes quickly and she does so, heaving until there's nothing left and she's just choking. Her eyes scan the site as she wipes at her mouth, hoping no one saw this, what she did. Her eyes scan the site, falling on the BuffyBot.

"_Abscondo_," She murmurs softly, remembering Tara telling her nervously that she made need the incantation one day. That it would come in handy in defeating Glory, although Buffy doesn't think Tara meant for this purpose.

It took virtually not magical ability to be able to do this. To build up the magical ability it took to hide something. Anything. And that's what she was doing. Concealing herself. She watches as the BuffyBot becomes flesh and bone, as she wanted. Blood runs from its temple, giving off the impression that it's the real her, and that she's dead. Which is exactly what she wants right now.

She backs away, into the shadows, as Xander hurries past and scales the nearby fence without sound, dropping lightly on the other side. She runs as fast as she can home, not even stopping at the sight of Giles' body. She enters through the back door and takes the stairs two at a time, bursting into her room. She pulls out a duffel bag, stuffing Mr. Gordo, a bunch of clothing she wouldn't dare part with, and some weaponry in her bag.

She hurries into Dawn's room, and stuffs a few of her sister's dolls into the bag. She then grabs the diary Dawn started just the other week and pushes it in, meanwhile looking for anything else she finds to be of value. She leaves her baby sister's room, then entering her mother's. She took all the jewelry, slipping her engagement ring on her right hand.

She hurries down the stairs, taking any mementos, and then she stands still for a moment. She's alone. Her mother's dead. Her sister's dead. She can't deal with this new level of loneliness and doesn't want to. He zips the bag closed, and then searches for cash. Happy to see that there's a couple hundred in nooks and crannies of the house, she leaves the way she came.

And she's alone as she buys her ticket and waits for her bus to anywhere but Los Angeles. She'll probably be alone for the rest of her life. But she's not surprised as she boards her bus, thinking back on what happened.

After all, she's the lone Summers.


	9. A Vision With A Purpose

**Author's Note:** Read and review. Let me know what you think. We're wrapping up the series, with it's last installment, Cordelia. I think there might be a sequel in the guise of a full-fledged story. And, yes, I was leaning towards C/X on purpose.

**A Vision With A Purpose: Cordelia**

"Oh, God! Sweet Earth!" Cordelia exclaims as she follows everyone else into the hotel. She throws herself down onto the settee and sighs.

Angel gives her a bit of a smile. "Glad to be back?"

"You do **not** know. At first, I was all, hey, princess in a demon dimension. This so totally rocks…and then, you know, they tried to kill me, so, that was flushed-"

"_Anya. Ahn, This…this…just hold on. I'll get help. **Anya**!"_

It didn't hurt. The change of scenery that was obviously a vision didn't hurt like most visions. It was Xander, shaking Anya, asking her to wake up before he was grabbed by a demon, yanked away.

"_Yeah, well, I don't think it actually matters. Do you?"_

Next she saw Spike facing off an old man…or he looked like one. She had this distinct feeling that she should be rooting for Spike.

"_Have to go. Have to leave. Can't stay."_

Buffy. She was panicking. And then she saw Buffy lying amidst the rubble, seemingly dead.

"_No!"_

Dawn saw screaming as Spike and Doc flew over the edge. Suddenly she was running, leaping into a portal.

"_Run…and get help. Help."_

Giles was battling a dragon. The sword went through its heart and she saw the claws go through him.

"_I need you safe."_

"_I'm not leaving you."_

Willow and this girl. The same girl she'd seen with Giles. They were in love, Willow and the girl. Tara, something told her. The girl's name was Tara.

"_Ashes to ashes…to ashes…to ashes…"_

She was insane. Cordelia could clearly see that. Mad as hell. she lost it when she lost Willow.

"_Fuck you. **Censum**."_

"_Anya!"_

Now she's seeing Xander run towards Anya as she falls, having been stabbed. She's dying.

Suddenly she's herself, but nobody's noticed that she blanked out. It's just as well. She can feel that this has nothing to do with Angel. Not this time, maybe not every again.

"I have to go." She stands.

"Go?" Angel asks, "Go where?"

"Home. I think…Dennis would be worried. He's overprotective that way." Cordelia says, but she's lying. She's going to her other home, maybe her true one. She's going back to Sunnydale.

* * *

She's hurrying down the street, using things from memory and the vision to find her way to the trouble, when a solid form crashes into her and falls back. 

"Help." Her voice sounds desperate. "Need…help."

Tara. It's Tara. The girl who Willow died for, the girl Giles died for. Cordelia decides she's an important person. "That's what I'm here for, Tara."

She takes Tara's hands and helps her to her feet, gently leading her towards the hospital. She needed help and Cordelia was determined to get it for her.

* * *

It turns out to be more difficult than she thought possible to get Tara help. Without knowing anything more than that her name is Tara, the nurse is being a bitch and a pain in the ass to deal with. 

"I don't care! I want her checked out! Get her a…a psychiatrist, a psychologist, something! Help her!"

There's the sound of footsteps and then the doors behind her opening before the unmistakable, "Cordy?"

She turns around to see Xander. She doesn't think much past that, letting go of Tara in favor of running to her ex-boyfriend and wrapping him in a hug.

"Xander! God, it's good to see a familiar face!" It's good to see him, despite everything. Especially when she knew all he had lost. Once she's done being sentimental, she pulls back and really sees him. She notices that he's wincing, probably from the strength of her hug, and there's a gash on his forehead. "Wow, you look like shit. That the hell's going on?"

He looks at her, sadly, as she takes a single step back, realizing that maybe she'd taken it over the line a bit. After everyone… She refocuses on what he's saying.

"Everyone's gone. In the 'dead and not actually coming back' kinda way. Buffy, Will, Giles, Dawn, Ahn…**Spike**. What's left is what you see here; me and Tara."

"Spike?" She asks, and then she remembers her vision, where she got the distinct feeling that she should've been in the bleached blonde vampire's corner. For some reason, he's been on their side, so she won't say anything. "Um. Wow."

"In a nutshell." Xander replies. He looks around for a moment before turning back to her. "I'm…I'm supposed to go identify them now."

He looks heartbroken, like a little boy. And Cordelia guesses that he mayas well be. His family is gone. Joyce, the only real mother figure any of them had back in high school, she was gone. She should've come with Angel to pay her respects, but she didn't. And now she wishes she had.

Buffy, the almighty slayer is dead. Years of wishing it, but thinking it impossible and it finally comes true. Giles, she's never thought of as mortal. He's the really wise, sometimes funny, older, father figure type of the group. He's supposed to live to two hundred, like he's a vampire or something. Willow's…well, not her favorite person. Especially after the Xander-kissage and the skewering. But Cordelia never wished her dead except once, and she was rightfully angry then. Anya, well, she didn't know Anya that well, but she'd learned that she'd granted a wish for Cordelia, so she guesses Anya would've been nice to had known better. And, well, she's always loved Dawn. Like a little sister Buffy was too dense to realize she was lucky to have. The only thing, besides Angel, that Cordelia had ever truly envied Buffy for.

Cordelia studies him for a moment longer and then grabs his hand. "I'll go with you."

There's a tear in her eye that she's trying to blink away. But he smiles at her. She tries to return it before taking a refreshed and different approach with the nurse. Having seen that today was a day of loss for all of them, the nurse is a bit nicer and immediately calls in Sunnydale's best.

Dr. Schneider soon arrives and begins to gently guide Tara farther into the psychiatric ward. Cordelia retakes Xander's hand, finding weird comfort in doing so, and they both make their way down to the morgue, side by side.

The process is really kind of boring when you think about it.

_Dawn Summers. Age 14. Brown hair, blue eyes. Time of death:4:59 A.M._

_Anya Jenkins. Age 21. Blonde/brown hair, brown eyes. Time of death: 5:00 A.M._

_Willow Rosenberg. Age 20. Red hair, green eyes. Time of death: 4:58 A.M._

_Rupert Giles. Age 42. Brown hair, grey eyes. Time of death: 5:14 A.M._

_Buffy Summers. Age 20. Blonde hair, green eyes. Time of death: 5:08 A.M._

They come to the conclusion that Tara and Xander are the only two survivors of a multiple homicide, around the same time that Dr. Schneider decides that Tara is suffering from trauma and it should wear off soon.

_At least the Doctor's right_, Cordelia thinks. She tells Xander as much later when she and him head for his apartment.

She'd reached an epiphany while standing beside Xander in that cold, dark room. She's going to stay in Sunnydale, because Xander and Tara need her. But, she has to go back to L.A. Because Angel needs to know in person. Because she's going to break her lease and move out of her apartment. She and Xander are going to protect the Hell mouth; maybe they can get Faith out of prison or something. And she knows she's going to do all of this, only because the Powers that Be have finally given her a vision with a purpose.


End file.
